Haryana minister Anil Vij said he offered to resign from Cabinet when told he may lose home dept
Chandigarh, Dec 30: Haryana Minister Anil Vij on Thursday said he had offered to resign from the Cabinet after the Urban Local Bodies department was reassigned to a newly inducted minister and was told that he may be divested of the home portfolio as well.
Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, on the advice of the chief minister, allocated and reallocated portfolios among the members of the Manohar Lal Khattar Council of Ministers on Wednesday consequent to the induction of two new ministers.
The urban local bodies, a key department, was allocated to newly inducted minister Kamal Gupta. Chief Minister Khattar also gave one department under him -- Housing for All -- which also went to Gupta, a two-time BJP MLA from Hisar.
Asked about reports that he had offered to resign from the Council of Ministers, Vij on Thursday said when the chief minister expressed his intent to divest him of the home portfolio and keep it for himself, "I then said, if he wishes so, he may take all portfolios."
"I said that I am willing to give up all my portfolios, why just one or two," he told PTI.
After the reallocation, Vij, a senior BJP leader and six-time MLA, now holds Home, Health, Ayush, Technical Education, and Science and Technology portfolios.
Newly inducted Ministers -- Kamal Gupta of the BJP and Devender Singh Babli of the JJP -- were allocated portfolios on Wednesday.
Notably, Vij was conspicuous by his absence at the oath-taking ceremony of the newly inducted ministers on Tuesday. Shortly before the ceremony, he had a meeting with the chief minister.
State BJP chief O P Dhankar, when asked about Vij's absence at the ceremony, had on Tuesday said, "He is our senior leader and we take decisions after consulting him." Asked specifically if Vij was unhappy over any issue, Dhankar had said, "He is our senior leader and the best performer".
Last year, after the tug-of-war with Khattar for days over the control of the CID, Vij was stripped of the charge of the department and it was later allocated to the chief minister.
He had then expressed unhappiness over not being briefed or given feedback on various issues by the CID.
However, after being stripped of the CID department charge, Vij had said he has always maintained that the chief minister is supreme and can take away or divide any department.
In July this year, Anil Vij had alleged that some officers are obstructing his departmental work to "please" Khattar as they think that there are differences between the two. He had made this remark after a with the chief minister over Director General of Police Manoj Yadava's tenure.
Khattar was keen on retaining Yadava as the state police chief while Vij was in favour of replacing him after his two-year term ended earlier this year.
In February 2015, less than three months after the BJP came to power in Haryana for the first time on its own, Vij, who then held Health, Sports and Youth Affairs, had taken a veiled dig at the chief minister on Twitter, saying, "Thank you chief minister for taking a keen interest in my departments. I'm relaxed."
Vij was then apparently upset with Khattar who then launched a number of programmes and schemes pertaining to the departments handled by him.
He was among the front-runners for the chief minister's post after BJP's win in the 2014 Haryana Assembly polls. Khattar, who was then a first-time MLA, emerged as the party's choice for the top post.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
